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Hello all! My name is kristopher swanson, and I work at The Neighboring Movement, in Wichita, KS. We are an asset-based community development nonprofit that does work through the lens of neighboring - encouraging people to get to know their actual, literal neighbors and companioning them in this process. Here is our website for more information: www.neighboringmovement.org. I am new to ABCD in Action and was told about this community by Dee Brooks. It's good to be connected with you all! Our nonprofit operates out of one particular neighborhood in Wichita, KS - the South Central Neighborhood, or what we call "SoCe". We are in the process of starting a brand new neighborhood initiative called the 8 Front Doors Initiative where we will encourage all of the residents within a certain area of our neighborhood to get to know the neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to their own. We will have materials on why doing so is good and important, incentives for doing so, and a "listening team" of high school students from the neighborhood who will regularly check in with neighbors to hear how their neighboring is going and encourage them in the process. In general, we think our two biggest challenges in our work are 1) How do we build trust as an organization in our neighborhood? Our staff members have lived in the neighborhood for a long time, but how do we come across as neighbors, and a neighborhood organization, to other people in our neighborhood - not as an outside organization "coming in" to help the neighborhood? and 2) How do we build the capacity for patience, in ourselves and others, in the midst of this work? Because this kind of organic development requires such a long scope, how do we foster the patience that is required for that long-term scope? If anyone has ideas, they would be much appreciated, and again, it is so good to be connected with this group! If anyone would like to learn more about our organization, as well, I would love to be in touch!
updated by @kristopher-jay-swanson: 02/09/23 07:22:31PM
